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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-04-11 Daily Xml
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DRIVING AGE

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (15:26): I wish to talk today about quite an important issue—the driving age for young people. I have in front of me a petition signed by 188 people that has been arranged by a young lady who lives in my electorate. The great regret for me is that it does not meet the requirements for it to be presented to the house, so the opportunity is therefore to speak briefly about it today. I want to put some of her words on the record because—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

Mr GRIFFITHS: No, well—188. One is my niece. I noted that on the first page that she had signed it and she is not quite old enough to drive yet, but it is important to her. These words are from the younger generation and these 188 names reflect a much larger cohort of younger people who live across South Australia.

I am advised by others that a petition is available online for this and there are 28,000 signatures on that. That is an enormous effort by a lot of people who are worried about the future and, in the first two days alone, 20,000 people attached their name to that online petition. That shows the level of anxiety that exists across younger generations about the ability to be able to drive and for them the concerns they have about any suggestion of the increase in the driving age. I am pleased that it has not occurred as part of the latest changes that have been announced for review, and they will be subject to debate in this house later on. I quote this lady directly:

Being a youth myself, I believe that the government's plan to increase the legal age that youths can obtain their Provisional Licence 1(P1) from 17 to 18 will create many issues nationwide, but rural area in particular. If you share this opinion with me, please sign the below petition.

That is why I say she got 188 signatures. She went on to give me some additional words, which I think are relevant, because they also state some concerns:

Teenagers wishing to complete apprenticeships will struggle to do so, as they will not have a licence, which most trades require...Young people will be obtaining their provisional licenses at the same time as receiving the rights to drink alcohol. This will potentially increase the amount of road fatalities cause by drink driving. Tax payers will be further burdened by the increase of unemployment rates, as the basic competency of most careers, is P1 licence. Industries such as construction and transportation will be greatly affected. Regional and rural areas generally do not have public transport. This means that young people will have no modes of transport apart from their parents—

or, indeed, I add their siblings or friends—

Often, parents are unable/unwilling to transport their children around, so this will cause the issue of social isolation for youths—

that is a very important point for kids in country areas—

Many parents refuse or are unable to transport their children to weekly sports. Due to this, there will be no way that children can access these sports, which will increase obesity rates nationwide. Reduce participation in voluntary activities, such as junior sporting coaches/umpires, as these people will be unable to access the places they need to fulfil their commitments. People that have a disrespectful mentality to the roads and its rules will always be that way. A year is not going to change that—

that is quite a profound statement, I think—

Increase in unlicensed drivers. Will create a lack of country students completing higher education, such as university or TAFE, as they will not have transportation available to access the institutions that provide these services.

Since this was first mooted, I think predominantly as a thought bubble from the previous minister, about the intention to look at the age for which driving will be applicable, I have been contacted continuously by people in my electorate. I know other members in this place have also. The member for Flinders has given me permission to shamelessly plagiarise a saying that he has come up with, which is that country kids—I emphasise this—want to drive, they can drive and they need to drive—and that is true. For those of us—

Mr Treloar: Four teenagers.

Mr GRIFFITHS: Four teenagers, the member for Flinders confirms. Mine have gone beyond that now, but it is really important to give them that level of responsibility. I am advised by another member that, in the first three months of this year—and this is a great statistic—there were no deaths at all in South Australia from P-plate drivers.

Ms Chapman: Of P-plate drivers.

Mr GRIFFITHS: Of P-plate drivers—that is wonderful. It shows that a level of responsibility exists. I know from a parent of a younger person that, even when they are going out, there is a greater level of responsibility now. If they are part of a group, one will ensure that they are capable of driving the rest all the time and there is a self-discipline that occurs around that.

I think that it has to be very carefully considered. I am pleased that the minister has not chosen to pursue that line at this stage because it would be something that would be objected to quite strongly across all regional South Australia. When you have an online petition that has 28,000 signatures in it, it really does emphasise that it cannot be allowed to occur. Let us hope that our young kids are brought up to respect their ability to drive, respect the fact that they have to be safe and sure when they do it and are rightfully given the opportunity to keep doing it in the future.

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